Saturday, August 23, 2008

RARE OPPORTUNITY

Yesterday, we had the rare opportunity to see Daddy at work TWICE! Occasionally he drives past the house, but that's been it. Yesterday, we were going to visit my sister, Donna. She lives about 25 minutes southeast of us. Unless we're going to visit my sisters and/or parents, we don't go that direction. HOWEVER, Jim does deliver gasoline in that area and beyond. (First of all, keep this in mind... we were supposed to go to Donna's on Friday. Jim was supposed to have Wed. off. That didn't happen; they needed him to come in. So then it was going to be Thursday... again, didn't happen. So Friday was going to be his day off... so we cancelled going to visit Donna. AGAIN, they called him in. So we decided, again, to go visit Donna, since Jim had to work.) Today (Friday) turned out to be a day when he'd be delivering near Donna's house. But before that, he had to pick up his trailer from being serviced in that same area -- so as we were heading for Donna's, I decided to stop and see if he'd picked up his trailer yet.

There he was hooking up the trailer and doing his pre-trip inspection! It was SO COOL! The boys were thrilled! I was thrilled that I could take pictures of him! (I rarely leave home without my camera!)

After picking up the trailer (tank) he had to drive back to Albany, get filled up with gasoline and then back down by Donna's. He called me to let me know when he'd arrive at the gas station. So we loaded up her car with boys, and we set off to watch Daddy at work, again! He had already put the hoses in the ground when we arrived, so he was just waiting for the tanks to fill.

I just want to say, and I've yet to tell him, that I was so honored to watch my husband working at his job. Jim is very conscientious about his work, and it was evident in watching him. There was no showing off; he's not like that. He was trying his best to ignore us -- and not in a bad way. Believe me, it had to be distracting to have me clicking away with my camera. But he knows how important that is to me, so I really don't think he minded... as long as I knew that he had to move quickly to get the job done -- and couldn't visit with us. I've always admired my husband's work ethic. * And how cool was it to get the price of gas in the picture?! Hopefully, in a couple years we'll look back and laugh at how ridiculously high it was back in the summer of 2008!! (we can hope, can't we?!)

God planned these moments. We couldn't have worked out all the details ourselves if we tried! Jim usually starts his day at 5 a.m.! Yesterday, since he thought he had the day off, he didn't get UP until 9! We haven't had dinner with him for 3 days because he's been called in late, assuming he wasn't going to work that day!

In Ephesians, chapter 5, we're told to have respect for the authority of our employers. Even if an employer does not deserve respect in his own right, it should nevertheless be given to him with genuine sincerity as if one was serving the Lord Jesus Himself. To serve one's employer well is to serve Christ well.

This week was a bit trying for all of us; we had plans to do something as a family on Jim's day off. But, again, God has perfect timing. I had been reading Ephesians a few days before and read this about respect for our employers. I had to teach it to the boys -- because they were angry that Jim kept being called into work on his day off. I had to remind Jim as well. AND I have to keep reminding MYSELF! God rewards us for our obedience to Him. We might not recognize it as a reward for a particular thing, but we have to trust Him...

Who knows, maybe getting to see Jim working was that reward. It works for me!